This update includes a new minigame and animation scene for the tavern which unlocks on the second day. There's also a lot of smaller features and fixes to the game.

Originally released for patrons over the course of Feb 24th to March 4th now available publicly. If you enjoy, consider supporting the development at  https://www.patreon.com/monstersouls. Thanks!

Changelog 0.2.9:

• Added a new tavern minigame that is unlocked after receiving the second mission. More characters and dialogue choices will be added in the future.
• Updated the design and visuals of the tavern.
• Added an unlockable "back room" with a whole new animation scene with loop options.
• Expanded the Warlock Master's manor with an additional study room for apprentices.
• Added the new character Sebastien to the study room. His dialog and quest line remain unfinished but will be added in a future update.
• Changed the Ancient Aqueducts to be accessed from the location where the  back alley used to be located.
• Changed the Goblin Encampment to be accessed from the east gate of the city.
• Added the ability to summon the slime pet in battle by using the "slime whistle" item obtained after receiving your slime or after the first time interacting with it.
• The slime will act according to it's evolution, with a wide variety of abilities.
• Lyric's bard class has been updated to include the "Forest Song" as a proof of concept although this is still work in progress and will be streamlined and polished.
• Animation Viewer data will now be unlocked after viewing certain scenes in the game. A set of animations will be unlocked by default but now more characters can be unlocked. This data is separate from the save files.
• The player can now attack enemies to initiate combat, attacking an enemy from behind may grant an advantage in battle.
• Item pickups now magnet towards the player and play an effect when collected.
• Improved hero's radial monsterform transformation menu.
• Experience earned after a battle is now evenly distributed among every monsterform that was used during that battle.
• Various new items and abilities.
• It is now possible to quit to the main menu from the game.

Changelog 0.2.9.4:

• Slightly reduced the global delay between turns.
• Characters using a melee attack now signal the end of their turn after hitting the target instead of after returning to their battle position, allowing the next character to start their turn much quicker.
• Animation charge times on several abilities have been reduced.
• The "move into position" animations when a battle is triggered have been refined.
• If a character is too far away when a battle is triggered, they will be teleported into position.
• Hero and Ash have a snappier new "return to position" animation.
• The battle positions of several encounters (particularly in the aqueducts) have been brought closer together to reduce melee attack travel time.
• Enemies will now more frequently target hero for melee attacks over Ash and Lyric. Magic and Ranged abilities are unchanged.
• The damage variance of melee attacks has been significantly reduced in most cases, making it easier to see progression.
• Empty battle command groups are now properly hidden in the command menu.
• Removed the Wait command under normal circumstances.
• Added Ward to Ash and Lyric. This increases magic defense for a turn and restores a small amount of MP.
• Removed the Backstab ability from Ash as two guaranteed critical hits was almost always the best option rendering a lot of other abilities unusable.
• Moved Ash's Phantom Missile to the magic group.
• Increased the damage of Ash's Shadow Orb spell.
• Changed the cost of Ash's Ethereal Strike and Spectral Sever from MP to HP.
• Increased the scaling of Lyric's Cure spell.
• Adjusted the levels of some enemies.
• Increased the number of enemies in several encounters in the aqueducts and goblin encampment.
• Removed the experience reduction from being over an enemy's level.
• The enemy ability Poison Spit now inflicts a persistent poison status until cured or end of battle. The damage proc has been reduced. Hero's Poison Spit is unchanged.
• Added some crates just before the Aqueducts that drop antidotes.
• Changed the treasure chest above the Tavern to be an elixir instead of a potion.
• Made wolves even weaker to fire.
• The wolf's Howl ability can now be disabled by Silence status.

Bug fixes 0.2.9:

• Previously looted treasure chests will no longer play their open sound effect on entering a zone.
• The inventory list in the main character menu now scrolls with gamepad input and is also easier to scroll with the mouse wheel. These changes will be added to all lists as I get around to them.
• The Inventory list is now sorted in a coherent order.
• The player inventory limit was initially set to 30 items and any items acquired after that would be deleted. The limit is removed. This does not effect stack sizes.
• Fixed some bugs with hero's monster forms that may have lead to getting form-locked in unintentional ways.
• Fixed hero's alternate forms not highlighting in battle during target selection.
• Fixed a bug where selecting a choice during dialog could instantly skip the following dialog window.
• Fixed a bug where Ash and Lyric would not get their virginity status updated.

Bug fixes 0.2.9.1:

• Removed the ability of the Slime King to grab the slime pet because all kinds of whacky things would occur.
• Fixed a bug where pet accessory collectables were not initialized on new game start.
• Removed some room transition code that may have caused issues.
• Fixed a bug where the slime surrender scene was not unlocking slimeform.
• Fixed improper virgin status on new game start.

Bug fixes 0.2.9.2:

• Fixed several instances where the player's checkpoint was not set correctly
• Fixed an issue where an out of range checkpoint would break the load and save menu
• When loading a save file with an out of range checkpoint, the checkpoint will be reset.
• Fixed and improved the clarity of some of the Warlock Master's dialog.
• Added a "wagon driver" that shows up at the city gate when it's time to embark to the goblin encampment, mostly a visual indicator at the moment.
• Added an alternative option when the Mercenary Captain asks for favor.
• Fixed a bug where hero's health could be reduced to 0 after surrendering.
• Reduced the charging time on a couple of the Faerie Princes abilities.
• Fixed (hopefully) Ash being invisible after loading the game during that special scene in the Faerie Realm.

Bug fixes 0.2.9.3

• Fixed an issue where global variables were not reset when starting a new game.
• Fixed an issue with the state check of the town street which disabled any progress from being made when starting a new game.
• Changed monsterforms to be initialized at level 1 instead of 0 when hero is transformed.
• Set Ash's minimum possible level to 5 when he is added to the party.
• Fixed an issue where skipping the goblin merchants initial post-Faerie Prince dialog would lock up the game.
• Fixed an issue when surrendering to the jellyfish monster, the scene is not implemented yet but will not soft lock the game anymore.